I've been reading The Ascetic of Love about Mother Gavrilia and enjoying it very much. I was wondering if y'all had any thoughts or quotes or links or things about what Mother Gavrilia (G.G. in the quote) is talking about in this passage here. It was in the section of the book called "Mother, give us a word" and was under the heading "Idolization." Thoughts and things about either the giving or receiving end of this would be quite welcome. Thanks.
G.G.: It is impossible to please a person who has been "spoiled" by too much love. This is the root of the problem. The love we have towards another person should never reach the point of idolatry. The limit where love ends and idolatry begins is something that many persons fail to discern. We are, for example, parents of a child and we love it to the point of adoration. Then this child takes the place of God. I have seen it happen many times. The child becomes a small idol and, for its sake, we forget God... Someone felt this way for his child. God took the child. The loss was awful! The devotion too was frighting... Great caution is required.
X.: Mother, what is to be done when we love a person, a friend, a companion, and one day we find out that he is not what we thought him to be. As if a mask fell off...
G.G.: It is not like that. It is not the other person's fault, but ours. Because we love an ideal and want the other one to personify it. We admire him whereas he does not deserve admiration. After knowing him better though, comes the wear and tear of familiarity. Then, one day, he falls off the pedestal on which we had placed him and we... get angry at him! Yet, in principle, he is not to be blamed for our own disappointment. The fault is ours; for we put him up on the pedestal with our imagination. We turned him into an idol; we admired him; and then we brought him down... While he was, is and will be whatever he is!